


Family is better than war, surprisingly

by silverseed



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: And Acceptable Targets, Character Study, Gen, Going From Terrible Person To Slightly Less Terrible, Introspection, Through The Power Of Love And Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22791577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverseed/pseuds/silverseed
Summary: Lucius Malfoy was happier with his family than he had ever been as a child. That didn't mean he regretted his decision to become a Death Eater.At least, he didn't until Draco started behaving suspiciously Light-inclinedly.OR: A character study for Lucius in SIAT
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Lucius Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy
Comments: 88
Kudos: 1452
Collections: Fics that made me happy 2021





	Family is better than war, surprisingly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShanaStoryteller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanaStoryteller/gifts).
  * Inspired by [survival is a talent](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006417) by [ShanaStoryteller](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShanaStoryteller/pseuds/ShanaStoryteller). 



Lucius often thought that Narcissa had saved his life.

She was proper, subtle and deadly at a time when he could only wish for those attributes.

She also taught him the real meaning of power after the Dark Lord was vanquished and they managed not only to mantain their standing but obtain an even more prominent social position in the aftermath.

Her ruthless practicality to take advantage of the power vacuum left him feeling like a kid who had been taking out his frustrations on everyone around him instead of the dangerous warrior he had seen himself as.

* * *

When Draco was born, Lucius knew without a shadow of a doubt that he'd never be able to understand his own father.

It was an enormous relief.

He had known he would love him, of course. Narcissa yearned for a child, they needed an heir, and their son was physical proof of their love.

More than that, though, he was a tiny bundle that squirmed in his arms and demanded food, attention, changing...

Lucius hadn't known he could love this fast and this fiercely.

* * *

In the years that followed, Lucius became happier than he had known possible.

Not everything was a path of roses, of course, but he wouldn't change it for the world.

Then Arthur Weasley became even more of a nuisance than usual and somehow managed to get a warrant to search his home for Dark artifacts before he realized and could do something about it.

He spent a long time looking at the Dark Lord's diary in light of that.

When he joined the Death Eaters, he had been ready to fight and die for his cause. Being entrusted with a personal possession of their Lord's was a great honor, and he had bore it with pride.

He didn't regret the things he'd done. But over the years, he had come to look at those times less as a warrior fighting for his beliefs and more like recalling a hurting child, hurting others to make himself feel better.

The Dark Lord had given him an escape from his house when he most needed it, but it was after Narcissa started suspecting what his home life was like and patiently coaxing confirmations or denials out of him that his parents died.

It was most likely a coincidence. He was never going to ask.

It occurred to him, suddenly, that he was happier as a family man than as the Dark Lord's soldier.

He had already known that. It just had never clicked that, with the Dark Lord dead, that chapter of his life was over. He didn't regret what he'd done then. But he felt no regret over its ending, either.

* * *

Of course, he could never completely divorce himself from his past. What he had thought would be a clever way to discredit Weasley by having his daughter caught with a Dark artifact became a disaster that spun entirely out of his control incredibly fast.

All the concerned parents he could coordinate and the Board of Governors in full and that fool Dumbledore still refused to give them a satisfactory explanation or, better yet, a plan of action. Draco was there! And nobody was doing _anything_.

When things finally came to a head, though, it was worse than he could have ever imagined.

Harry Potter had played hero, to everyone's relief -because apparentely a castle full of adults needed the Boy-Who-Always-Bloody-Lived to solve everything for them- and he couldn't even muster a sneer at him.

Draco had been there. Draco could have been killed. Draco _would_ have been killed if Potter, of all people, hadn't saved him.

Narcissa didn't blame him. Lucius couldn't bring himself to tell her that that only made him feel worse.

Draco had saved Ginny Weasley's life. Lucius didn't know how he felt about that, other than uncomfortable and small in a way he didn't care to analyze.

When Potter rounded out the evening by tricking that wretched creature Dobby away from him, Lucius was almost grateful at the excuse to be irritated about something simple.

* * *

The next year did nothing for his blood pressure, what with _Dementors_ of all creatures in Hogwarts. And a cursed Werewolf teaching a class, because clearly Dumbledore had used up the last of his common sense trying to get Fudge to see reason.

Albus Dumbledore and Lucius Malfoy united in a common goal. He could say without (much) sarcasm that it was a historical occasion. He'd almost be impressed with Fudge if he wasn't so incandescentenly furious.

Happily, neither werewolf nor Dementors attacked his son. Instead, this year he managed to almost get himself killed by a hippogriff.

The sight of Draco covered in blood and screaming would likely feature in his nightmares for the rest of his life.

His reaction, obviously, was to make sure that feral creature was killed. Draco tried to get him to let it live.

Lucius was noticing a pattern, of him not caring or actively working towards the death of something or other, and his son putting his life in danger to prevent it.

He didn't care to analyze how he felt about that, either.

* * *

The World Cup was suppossed to be a relaxing family outing. A chance to spend time together with some lighthearted entertainment, where he didn't have to worry about moral dilemmas.

Then some people from the Old Crowd got drunk, took out their masks, and Lucius had to keep up appearences.

He didn't care at all for the sight of his son tense and staring fixedly, unable to tell which of them was Lucius but undoubtedly aware that he was there.

Oh, he looked the part of the perfect pureblood heir, looking at them with only mild interest. But Lucius knew his son. Draco wasn't relaxed. At all.

He didn't know what he told Potter and his blood traitors, but despite his son's threats -and he wasn't actually hostile, Draco knew better than to chat first if he was really going to hex anyone- they almost looked worried about Draco.

He only had a little time to feel offended about that, though, because soon afterwards someone actually cast _Morsmordre_ , and from then on true chaos erupted.

* * *

Not thinking about his son's recent behaviour proved to be a mistake, because as soon as he came home they had the worst fight of their lives.

The silent treatment hurt, especially because Lucius didn't know how to fix this.

_"I am a good son and a good Malfoy! But I won't be a good Death Eater and you can't make me!"_

Lucius didn't know if it was his imagination or if the Mark really was getting darker after that. But he knew that he didn't regret taking it. He didn't even regret what he'd done after taking it, not really. But he was starting to feel a little ashamed of it, if it made his son look at him like that.

In the end, it seems they both had the same idea for Christmas, because Draco personally enchanted his gifts to him and Narcissa.

It made him feel more sure than ever about their decision to send him the family ring. Whatever happened, Draco was a Malfoy. And they were proud of him.

Right when he thought things were looking up, with that year's near-death experiences happily contained to the Triwizard Champions -and Mr. Potter- and Draco's place in their family reaffirmed, his past came calling.

Looking at his Lord in the flesh once more, as liberal with the Cruciatus as he'd been at the end of the war was a rude shock.

It felt like the last decade had been a dream, and his happy family about to be torn from him. He couldn't keep being just a family man. The Dark Lord needed his warriors again.

Despair was starting to set in and make him numb when their Lord demanded to duel a fourteen-year-old.

Draco's age.

But then, the Dark Lord had tried to kill Potter when he was an infant.

Surely their Lord would have no qualms killing a teenager.

Surely their Lord would have no qualms killing Draco if he got in his way.

To his shame, Potter managed to keep his head far better than Lucius. Not only did he evade the Dark Lord's attacks, but he managed to raise an entire graveyard of undead.

It was an extremely impressive bit of magic, especially for a boy.

Their Lord immediately ordered them to attack, and Lucius surprised himself with the bitter thought that since the fight could barely be called a duel in the first place now at least their liege wasn't keeping up the farce.

He was a loyal follower, though. He didn't have a choice.

It was surprisingly easy to get to Potter. The corpses hadn't given him much trouble, and while he was undoubtedly the best duelist among the Death Eaters, he had the suspicion that wasn't really the reason.

His suspicions were confirmed when he managed to pin the child to the ground. It was not difficult, considering how hurt and exhausted he was. He'd been covered in blood and screaming under the Cruciatus less than ten minutes before. He'd looked a lot like Draco after the hippogriff attack.

Lucius couldn't do it. He just couldn't. He'd killed boys like him in the War, and younger too. But Lucius had been barely more than a child himself. He hadn't had a son then.

Lucius didn't know what Draco thought of him now. He just knew his opinion of him wouldn't survive it if he killed who he suspected was actually one of his son's friends.

Fortunately, that vague thought was apparentely enough to register as a threat for the corpses Potter had summoned, so he didn't have to think of an excuse to let him go.

* * *

Obviously, such treason couldn't go unpunished.

Even in a chaotic battlefield, he couldn't expect his actions to go unremarked, especially when he caught up to the target. Lucius only had time to portkey himself to his home and think fuzzily that dying for his principles was a disgustingly Gryffindor thing to do when he lost consciousness.

He didn't even get to see Narcissa one last time.

* * *

Surprisingly, he lived.

Apparentely his son's Light-leaning activities had included an interest in Healing. To such a degree that he could save him from the brink of death. There was probably something poetic to be said about that.

_"Being a Death Eater is the least of you"_

Draco probably didn't understand that at one time that was the worst insult he could have received. Being a Death Eater had been an escape, and the only part of him he had been proud of.

Now, incredibly, it seemed that Narcissa wasn't the only one that appreciated the rest of him.

He was starting to believe that he had grown into someone for whom being a Death Eater really made the least of who he was.

* * *

Of course, that didn't solve the immediate problem of the Dark Lord being back, or his son gradually metamorphosing into a Gryffindor.

There were still lots of things they didn't talk about, and now they couldn't. It seemed only fair, though. If he was making his son pretend to be something he hated in order to save his own skin, he could pretend not to know why Draco insisted on staying home for the holidays to protect his.

His Occlumency may be excellent, but with a Legillimens of the Dark Lord's skill plausible deniability was still necessary. Uncertainty and worry were his feelings regarding his son's presence at the Manor. Mere speculation about his motives was of no interest to his Lord.

Nagini's presence, and then near-death, were a bitter reminder that the situation was completely untenable in the long term.

So Lucius considered his options, reminded himself that he was a Slytherin, and started making idle conversation about heirs with Ophelia Bulstrode and other like-minded individuals.

It hurt, going up to his sister and asking her to ruin her life for his happiness again. But Lucius was selfish, in the end. And he did it.

* * *

Obviously, Draco couldn't let him have even the whole school year to plan. Granted, he didn't know he was even doing anything. But Lucius knew for a fact he didn't even _like_ Severus!

Lucius very deliberately turned his back on the group. And Merlin help them if they had come alone without at least some adults if they had the Polyjuice to spare. He was going to yell at them if he survived this.

The Dark Lord was in a forgiving mood, to his good fortune. Apparentely he only cared about having Potter at hand. He dared to consider that they might all make it out, but he kept close to their Lord just in case. He was sure Ophelia and Sofia were doing the same.

_"Would you put your son's life over me?!"_ Always _"Over your own life?"_ Without question _"Over your wife's life?"_ She'd kill him herself if he didn't.

It occured to Lucius for the first time that, even if he had elaborated instead of simply answering "Yes", the Dark Lord wouldn't be able to understand it. It occured to Lucius for the first time to pity the creature Tom Riddle had become.

And then his son was hurt, and all thoughts of pity went out the window.

_"I'd do anything for him. Just like you would for Narcissa"_

It was reflex to take a look at his son's soulmark, but he instantly brought his eyes back, because that was _impossible_...

Potter was nodding, intense and resolute.

Lucius' numb shock didn't abate. If anything, it got worse. But instead of urging him to irrationally plaster himself to his son's side, it made him nod to his son's soulmate -whom he had almost killed-, get up and get away.

He needed to go to Narcissa. He needed to make sure she was okay and his news reached her before any Death Eaters.

He needed to kill some deserving targets, because otherwise he would think about how he almost killed his son's soulmate and Draco had still saved his life and told him " _do whatever you need to survive_ ".

And the most wretched thing was, Draco really _wasn't_ the martyr in that relationship.

Lucius was suddenly very glad to have discorporated the Dark Lord, beyond taking care of the immediate threat to his family. If Potter found a way to get himself killed despite that he'd be very cross.

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, I've got a [tumblr.](https://silverseedthings.tumblr.com/)


End file.
